Sending more women to their doom

This has not been the best day on the painting front. Maybe it has to do with HEAVY CONSTRUCTION GOING ON ABOVE MY HEAD! Anyway, I probably did more harm than good to my Dania and Millie paintings, so no sharing until I right those wrongs.

I did, however, start the other two paintings I've been planning. These have an increased difficulty level, meaning I am setting myself up for big time failure.



This is Moreh Serev. An argument can be mounted that she is *the* most important character of the first half of Maquette, so it's best that I don't fuck this up.

Obviously, Moreh is no spring chicken. She's 56, and that means she's been a power player for a good long time. And I do mean that literally: Powerful people are her playthings. Because of that, I wanted her to have a sly, "I own your ass," expression.

Making her rest her head in her hand is important for two reasons: If done right, it helps convey her casual amusement at her manipulations, and her hands are somewhat symbolically important in the story. If I had painted a pose showing off her palms I'd explain more, but making Moreh do the jazzhands thing would be ridiculous. As of now the pose looks ridiculous anyway, but I'm hoping that's more about how her pose and torso haven't been developed yet than about me sucking at this.

As for the exact scene I am depicting, I'm playing it safe with a fairly universal Moreh pose for now. If I get more hand-painting ambition, I might show her other hand holding a teacup, which would place the painting during her introductory scene - where she's getting under the skin of the two people you just don't fuck with in Maquette. Reach for the stars, Moreh!



This is Marilee Ruth Bishop. She usually goes by various nicknames, but I'm writing her full name here as I don't think I've done it anywhere else. (It may all be in my head, but it's not always in my notes.) She was the original subject of the painting that became Millie, but my grand idea forced me to a new canvas.

Marilee has a strange quirk about her: She kinda glows in the dark. There's a *really* awesome explanation that that, but I'll leave you guessing for now. For her introduction, she's standing at the back of a dark room and slowly lights up. Spooky! I want to see if I can make it work! That's why I'm including a negative of the first sketch, since it sorta resembles the goal of the painting.

Unfortunately, I sorta screwed up the pose. Initially, I wanted to show more of her body since her introduction has her standing farther back from "the camera." Then I decided my strength is in the face and hair, so I pulled it in a big tighter. The result: She's far enough away to lose detail in her face, but too close for me to work a dynamic pose. Awesome!